Publishing and what’s ‘Trending’…GET A FRIGGING LIFE!

Would you go out and buy with you hard earned dollars/pounds, the latest James Patterson (for example) book because it was ‘trending or trendy’ to read or because you like reading his books?

For the people who like his writing and his books…the answer would be yes. But that is probably only 20% of the book buying public. And most of them won’t buy the hardback because it is too costly (which the publishing houses seem to forget that we are all going through a recession, and we haven’t got bottomless pockets that we can dig into!). Most will borrow the book from the library (and with all the cut backs that they are having, they can’t afford to buy like they used to). Or wait until it comes out in the cheaper format of the paperback (I won’t include e-book as publishers like PRH charge as much for the Kindle book as they do the paperback or hardback!).

And of course the publishing houses only take their stats from sales on hardbacks…VERY shorted sighted of them in this day and age!

So what happens to the other 80% of the book buying/reading public. Do the publishers give them the books that they like to read…nope!

They cancel out whole swathes of genres, cut staffing to the point that they can’t even cope with the drastically reduced work load in those departments.

All to accommodate what is ‘Trending’ for the very SHORT period of time that, that trend will last…flooding us with about 25% of books that are well written and worth reading, and 75% of total rubbish that gets through the system to accommodate the ‘Trend’.

So where do the other 80% of the book buying/reading public go to spend their hard earned dollars/pounds when they can’t get anything new to read in the genres they enjoy to read and buy, because of the latest trend that has flooded the book market?

Most go to the publishers and indies books, who DO publish what they read. Or to used book stores/exchanges/shops to get their fix. Or go back to their own book shelves and re-read.

Do they go out and buy what is ‘Trending’…very few.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that publishing is a business, and the business is to make money. And I understand that. But cutting genres that make multi billions, to accommodate ‘Trends’ that make just a few billion…is shear stupidity!

Take Penguin Random House for an example. They realised that the market was getting flooded by some genres. But instead of doing gradual cut-backs in the books. They stomped in, with their size 20 combat boots and scythe and slashed and hacked their way through until they now have nothing much left. Creating a dirty great big scar, that probably will never heal.

All they have done is got rid of a lot of talented staff and writers, that are now being snapped up by their competition. And pissed off a hell of a lot of readers/buyers, to the point that we no longer have much faith in them as a publishing company. Which they are going to regret in the long run.

You flood the book stores/shops with what YOU think is trending, what YOU think we should be reading…to make a few billion off the 20%!

When you should be publishing quality written books from all genres that make you multi billions, and not flooding us with what is ‘trending’ at the moment.

Mini skirts trended in the 60’s. It only lasted a few years until a new trend appeared and they became passé. But they had a revival in the last few years. So have bell bottoms and hot pants….get the drift?!

There’s an old saying, ‘what goes around, comes around’.

PRH well and truly shot themselves in the foot Big Time. To the point that authors are looking elsewhere to publish their books.